Despite a slow start, the Pembroke Lumber Kings got some late bounces as they edged the Hawesbury Hawks 3-2 to win a third straight game at the PMC on Oct. 27.

Hawkesbury goalie Mathieu Chenier would probably like to have the last two goals back. After making some big saves during the first and second periods to keep his team in it, two miscues in the third led to the tying and winning goals.

With seven minutes to go in the game, Chenier mishandled the puck and Andrew Poulias jumped on the loose puck and shot it over the goalie to pull the Kings even at two. William Neault assisted. Then less than a minute later, Fletcher Anderson fired a shot from outside the blue-line which hit Chenier then trickled over the goal-line for the winner.

“We’ll take our two points tonight,” said Kings’ head coach and general manager Alex Armstrong following the game. “It was nice for the guys to get a couple of bounces because there are a lot of games where we don’t get the bounces.”

Pembroke Lumber Kings Jacob Shankar (10) and Dante Moretti try to get their sticks on the loose puck in front of Hawkesbury goaltender Mathieu Chenier during first period action at the PMC Oct. 27. The Kings edged the Hawks 3-2.Tina Peplinskie /
Pembroke Observer and News

The Hawks dominated the first half of the game, but the Kings were able to get better as the game went and were all over the Hawks in the second half on the way to victory – the fourth in five games. The Kings once again struggled to stay out of the penalty box, but the penalty kill stood tall. The Hawks were 0-for-7 on the power play and Pembroke went 0-for3 with the man advantage.

“In the second I thought our penalty kill did a great job tonight,” Armstrong said. “They have the second best power play in the league and the second best penalty kill so our special teams were great tonight. Our power play, even though we didn’t score, I thought we created more chances tonight.”

Pembroke also had a number of short-handed scoring chances, but failed to capitalize.

“Thought we deserved better fate with the number of shorthanded chances we missed,” the coach added.

The Hawks opened the scoring less than five minutes into the first. The Kings could not clear the zone and the puck was left sitting on the doorstep and Evan Johnston banged it home past Reece Proulx in the Pembroke net.

With three minutes to go, the Kings had a chance to tie it on the power play. Jack Stockfish managed to keep it in and get the puck to Alex Urbisci, who shot it from the slot but it deflected high.

Then late in the opening frame, Stockfish won the draw and the puck went to Cameron Hough who ripped a low shot past Chenier with just 13.5 seconds remaining on the clock.

After a scoreless second period, Hawkesbury went up 2-1 8:45 into the third as the players kept whacking at the puck and Luke Grainger finally beat Proulx.

Armstrong though Proulx played well as he stopped 43 of 45 shots he faced, but he also credited the players for blocking shots in front as well.

“We are starting to move forward, winning four of five so we’ll take that,” the coach added. “It’s a big month for us here in November. We’re starting to get into playoff hockey tonight because the points are becoming more meaningful. We still have a lot of hockey ahead of us.”

The Kings were given the day off Monday before getting back to work at practices in preparation for the Nov. 3 game against Brockville at 7 p.m. at the PMC. Members of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 72, including the colour party, will be in attendance at the game for a remembrance ceremony to start the game.

Three stars: The three stars of the game were Pembroke’s Reece Proulx and Cameron Hough first and second respectively and Hawkesbury’s Luke Grainger was the game’s third star. The fourth star for hard work was Pembroke defenceman Nicolas Guillemette.

Transaction: The Kings have picked up 16-year-old deenceman Ty Hollett from the Navan Grads. Sunday night marked his second game in Pembroke. He is the fourth-round, 64th overall pick of the North Bay Battalion of the Ontario Hockey League in the 2019 draft. Although he was a bit rusty in his first couple of outings in Pembroke, Armstrong speaks highly of his potential, saying he has a very high hockey IQ to go along with his size, at at six foot four and 200 pounds, and a good shot.

“There is a lot of teaching to do but at the end of the day he’s going to get better,” the coach said. “He’s going to make some mistakes, but we have to play him because that is the only way he is going to learn.”

Pembroke defenceman Nicolas Guillemette holds off Hawkesbury’s Luke Grainger during third period action at the PMC Oct. 27. Guillemette was named the fourth star of the game for his hard work.Tina Peplinskie /
Pembroke Observer and News